Boop! goes the sound of the TV as it switches itself on. It’s 6:00 am, the time at which I programmed the TV to go on. I spend the next 30 minutes bargaining with my body to get out of bed as I half attentively listen to the day’s news highlights on TV. I have around half an hour to prepare myself for the day and leave the house.
Boop! goes the sound of the TV again. This is the time I programmed it to switch itself off and a quick reminder that it is 7:00 am and I am supposed to be out of the house.
It takes me 20 minutes to get to E-zone Internet Café in Nabbingo where I run my computer repair workshop. I spend the next 20 or so minutes interacting with my neighbours, a cobbler and a manicurist dissecting the previous day’s stories ranging from football, politics, local events and so on.
8:00 am finds me on my seat preparing my day’s to-do list.
I go through my e-mail and check on the progress of several posts on my social networks as I wait for breakfast. Breakfast lands on my table at around 8:30 am as I prepare to write an article for the ICT Teachers’ website. I am interrupted by a client who wants his WhatsApp restored on his phone. What is supposed to take about 10 minutes seems to prove otherwise.
A few minutes after 9:00 am, I have only written the heading for my article, breakfast is only halfway done and my appetite is gone. I get a call from a nearby school to help them fix a server that has failed to go be accessed by other users. After moving round and round in circles, I notice it’s the network cable that I have to fix.
I rush back to my workshop to pic a crimping tool and RJ45 clips only to find a client whose computer needs a ‘small fix’. I decide to solve this ‘small’ problem only to spend the next 40 minutes fighting with a stubborn virus. It dawns on me that I have to re-install the Operating System. We fail to agree on the charges and off goes the client – almost an hour wasted.
I jump on a boda-boda to get back to the school whose server had issues. In less than 5 minutes, the issue is solved. I walk back to my workshop to find a pair of impatient clients whose phones have a password issue and a whatsapp update issue. But before I embark on them, a client with a laptop walks in – problem? Forgotten password.
It takes me around 30 minutes to solve these issues. I am hungry and as I think about what to eat, I get an invitation from another school for a discussion on a quotation I had sent earlier in the month.
I get to the school as soon as possible only to find the Headteacher locked in another meeting. Lunch is inevitably skipped as I wait for my turn to meet the Headteacher. At a quarter to 3:00 pm, I am called into the office and the discussion goes on for over an hour. Luckily again, I seal the deal and wait for its implementation.
It’s close to 5:00 pm and nothing like a decent meal can be found in my neighbourhood. I console myself with a yoghurt and a chapati as I prepare for the gym. By now, any phone interruptions piss me off – but I remember that my livelihood depends on the calls I get.
I get to the gym some minutes after 6:00 pm and workout up to 7:30 pm. I rush to my friend’s place to pick his vehicle as I am supposed to pick someone from the airport at 10:00 pm. However, I have to solve something on his laptop which takes me about 20 minutes.
I finally head for the airport as I munch away on a cob of maize and chicken wings. I fortunately arrive just on time. After a few pleasantries, we head back to Kampala and then back to my place just after mid night after a hectic day.
A quick look through my to-do list shows that I failed to write my article for the ICT teachers’ website, I failed to go for shopping in town, I didn’t post my old inverters on OLX and even failed to post the day’s advert on the school’s facebook page.
One thing that disturbs me is that I felt too exhausted but my pockets had nothing much to show for it. I go to bed hoping for a brighter day when I wake up in the morning.
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Stephen Dumba
E-zone School of Computing
0752 111 223 / 0772 111 223
2 Responses
… and hopefully tomorrow will be brigher day! One of these days I must visit E-zone School of Computing to give you an interruption too. You are surely a busy man, but you get time off to contribute to the ICT Teachers fratenity through sharing nowledge, ideas and inspiration through your the posts on this website, which are also sent out to the subscribers over mail. Thank you Stephen, I hope to see you at #WordCampKla this weekend!
Thanks Rogers. Though this wasn’t the best, I see bright days too. And I am looking forward to meeting you too at #WordCampKla come Friday. Infact I am coming with someone from St. Peter’s SSS Nsambya too. Stay blessed.